Words of Encouragement and a Plan of Action

Words from East Riding Councillor, former Mayor of Hedon and current Hedon Town Councillor, John Dennis, who has joined the fight to save our beloved small towns from industrial developments and the expansion of Hull.

Dear all,

As local people will remember it’s only about 6 months since the Local Plan was finalized and this site was not zoned for development, and only two and a half years since I ran a big campaign to raise public awareness of the East Riding’s local referendum. At that time 75% of people in the area around the city came out and voted and 96% of them said ‘No’ to such Hull owned sites around the city being developed in any way, and a similar number said they did not want to be part of an expanded city of Hull. Nothing has changed, except large amounts of money have been thrown at it! And of course government planning guidelines which are constantly changing. I hope we’re not a victim of this and that Planners stick by their guns. Time will tell.

The Hull Council, who as the freeholder, are the prime movers behind this application chose to ignore that vote. They bought this land, and other similar sites, and 80+ years on they can see the £ signs, and have brought in the big guns, conveniently stepping aside because it’s adverse publicity. It is sheer arrogance on Hull’s part to ignore such a massive ‘No-No’ vote. Seems the people of Hedon and Preston South don’t matter, and stand the risk of being forgotten. It’s money that matters, not us.

As soon as you can please ALL write to ERYC and object. The more letters the merrier. All letters (or e-mails) will be placed before the committee for consideration. Please make sure the committee members are aware of local feeling but only write in when the application is publicized on ER’s website. Don’t omit ER reference number.

I will be speaking for residents at Hedon Council and as SWHolderness Ward Member at the committee in County Hall. Can I have your backing by you all writing and attending ER committee?

Remember this will be decided by a Strategic Committee, none of whom live nearby or are affected by the development, and they, plus Planning Officers need reminding just how important this ‘gap’ is to local residents. Don’t be complacent and think Hull will go away.

How about organizing one of our marches again? It seems like an age since HOTI (2009 ! )

John P. Dennis
ER Councillor
SWHolderness Ward Member
Hedon Town Councillor

Here are some other excellent comments which have been made on the Facebook page under various posts in date order, just in case you missed them.

23^rd October 2016 – Problem is that people with power have the view of tidying up the site. This is why the people of Hedon and Preston south need to stand together and fight to maintain the green space of the aerodrome.

15^th May 2017 – Today on another thread there was a link to a newspaper article where Mr Sewell was shown standing in front of the Leisure Centre at Saltend Roundabout. At the time of reading there was an implication that the land was under-used (or some such phrase). I’ve just read a February 2017 article regarding small proposed changes to green belt land which specifically mentions housing but I think that Hull Council & Mr Sewell could be using this small change to work in their favour, and will argue the case that currently the Aerodrome is “under-used” …”the current planning regulations allow building on the green belt only “in exceptional circumstances” but that there is no detail given of what would amount to exceptional circumstances. The government has now specified that before allowing development on green belt land, councils would need to rule out options including: using brown field sites or estate regeneration using land that is currently underused, including surplus public sector land The White Paper also says that councils allowing the boundaries of green belt land to be changed would have to make up for it by improving other bits of green belt.

15^th May 2017 – We need to write to the council with whatever concerns us. I am also concerned about the increased flood risk. Some of my neighbours have been refused home insurance because of the risk already there. Removing half of the nearby flood plain can only make it worse.

16^th May 2017 – I don’t see how one can improve on nature, which is already providing sustenance and nutrients for farm animals, wild animals, birds, insects and endangered bees in the form that they need of organic wild flowers, wild herbs and grasses. Providing mowed lawns and trees do not in themselves provide open spaces for endangered skylarks, nor provide flying insects needed by visiting birds such as martins, swifts, swallows, that catch their food on the wing for instance. Nor does grass provide food for endangered bees, etc.

19^th May 2017 – Note copied from the planning portal for when detailing objections for this: “The planning officer can only take into account issues that are relevant to the application. For example, we are unable to consider issues which are most commonly raised such as a loss of view, property value and legal issues such as covenants on properties.

Such issues and others such as parking, traffic and noise are considered to be ‘material considerations’ and Should Be Taken into account in deciding a planning application or on an appeal against a planning decision.

‘MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS’ are extremely varied and include fundamental factors involved in land-use planning such as:

the number, size, layout, siting, density, design and external appearance of buildings
the proposed means of access
landscaping
impact on the neighbourhood
the availability of infrastructure

ISSUES WHICH ‘MAY’ BE CONSIDERED

Planning history of the site
Overshadowing
Overlooking and loss of privacy
Adequate parking and servicing
Overbearing nature of proposal
Loss of trees
Loss of ecological habitats
Archaeology
Contamination by a previous use
Effect on listed building(s) and conservation areas
Access and highways safety
Traffic generation
Noise and disturbance
Disturbance from smells
Public visual amenity
Flood risk
Planning gain

ISSUES WHICH ‘CAN NOT NORMALLY’ BE CONSIDERED

Loss of value to an individual property
Loss of a private individual’s view
Boundary disputes including encroachment of foundations or gutters
Private covenants or agreements
The applicant personal conduct or history
The applicant motives
Potential profit for the applicant or from the application
Private rights to light
Private rights of way
Damage to property
Loss of trade to individual competitors
Age, health, status, background and work patterns of the objector
The amount of time taken to do the work
Building and structural techniques
Matters covered by another statute Alcohol or gaming license

23^rd May 2017 – We attended Church Rooms last night. I thought these folk were there to answer our questions! Two questions asked had answers ‘ I can’t remember exactly, but!’ One of the representatives understood our concerns about traffic volume and problems that would be caused whilst under construction as he lived in the area and remembered the problems he had to encounter, getting into Hull, when Hedon Road was under construction. When asked where he lived he said Longhill! ! I’m 100% committed to lodging my objections when the time comes. Already drafted out.

23^rd May 2017 – I am really shocked at how many people in Hedon still don’t know this is going on, I spoke to friends who live at Holderness Grange retirement village and they didn’t know what I was talking about and hadn’t heard a thing about it. Hopefully they will spread the word amongst their neighbours.

23^rd May 2017 – The person who I talked to last night didn’t know how to answer any questions I had. I asked about traffic and have they calculated the rush hour flows. He didn’t have a clue. He started talking about castle street in Hull! Then said there could be lights on the roundabout at saltend. Didn’t know what to say about the flood risk. I could sense he was struggling when he didn’t know about grey water use (use of rain water to flush toilets) He was happy when he was talking about the buildings esp the 8 stories buildings.